In November, over five afternoons, WA AESD Computer Science Leads welcomed an additional 4 school district teams to participate in a SCRIPT Workshop. District teams were composed of one district-level administrator, one school-level administrator, one CS teacher, and a fourth member that can be either instructional or non-instructional district staff. This mix of roles supports districts in building strong working groups for strategic planning and effective implementation of CS education.
Visioning
The first task was to identify their team’s Vision for CS. Through a guided exercise, teams identified their vision for why CS education is essential, then defined a district-level vision that will serve to guide their CSed implementation. Next, the teams categorized which impact area their vision falls into from one of the seven impact areas identified in the ‘CS for What’ publication.
District Assessment
After the Vision exercise, teams were ready to self-assess CS education in their district, using the SCRIPT Rubric. Each team reflected around five components, rating their district as Novice, Emerging, Developing, and Highly Developed for each:
- Materials and Curriculum Selection and Content Refinement
- Leadership
- Teacher Capacity and Development
- Partners
- Community Engagement
- Technology Infrastructure
Setting Goals
The vision was essential for the last block of the SCRIPT Workshop: goal setting. Once the districts identified the vision that will lead their implementation strategy and the areas in which they need to improve, they set 3-month, six-month, and 12-month goals. These goals ranged from creating stable working processes to actual changes to classes.
It is the goal that within their first year after the SCRIPT Workshop, all-district teams will have a CS education plan in place that will serve as their guide to bring high-quality, integral CS education to all students.
“I applaud the district leaders attending the SCRIPT workshops- they are willing to take action to prioritize computer science education. They are the innovators and trailblazers, and are leading the way for other school districts to follow,” said Shannon Thissen (ESD113).
We thank all of our AESD CS Leads, and particularly OSPI who provided the grant funding for making this professional development possible and, most of all, our participants, both facilitators, and districts, for engaging in meaningful conversations and making the most of what SCRIPT had to offer. SCRIPT training is only the beginning of a long journey towards achieving CSforALL!
CSforALL and specific ESD CS Leads in applicable regions will continue to support and offer guidance to the districts attending the Workshops through regular check-ins and follow-ups.
What is SCRIPT?
The Strategic CSforALL Resource and Implementation Planning Tool (“SCRIPT”) is a framework used to guide the creation of customized implementation plans to meet the goals and needs of school districts that are seeking to create computer science education (“CSed”) plans, guided by CSforALL values of rigor, inclusion, and sustainability. The SCRIPT engages school districts in goal-setting across five thematic areas: (1) Materials and Curriculum, (2) Leadership, (3) Teacher Capacity and Development, (4) Partners, (5) Community, (6) Technology Infrastructure.